


Worst Roommates

by geesenoises



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 09:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1092176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geesenoises/pseuds/geesenoises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin and Rei share an apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this idea is really [celsius](http://archiveofourown.org/users/celsius/pseuds/celsius)'s. you should all read her [perfect Rin and Rei friendship fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/983020/chapters/1936513).
> 
> this has zero plot, is not chronological, and is 100% self-indulgent. posting here because it was getting too unwieldy for tumblr. updated sporadically.

**bathroom sharing**

"How much longer are you going to take in there?" Rin shouted through the door.

"Ush iv me a init. Um fwossing," came back, garbled. Rei emerged a minute later. "Flossing is a very important part of maintaining dental hygiene. It takes time to do it properly, but I never skip it."

Rei took a look at the way Rin’s lip was curling back and decided he would keep his musings on dental hygiene to himself while they were roommates.

* * *

**the sweater**

"I said I was sorry," Rin said.

Rei pulled at the shrunken sweater in dismay. “You said you knew how to do laundry.”

"I do know how to do laundry!" Rin insisted. "I’ve been living alone for years."

"Did you check the care tag? Why didn’t you check the care tag?" Rei started getting a little hysterical.

Rin mentally groped for a way to avert the impending crisis. “I’ll… get you a new one?” he offered awkwardly.

Rei pulled himself together and adjusted his glasses. He thrust the sweater into Rin’s hands. “Make sure you get the monogram in the right font.”

Rin was left standing in the hallway of their apartment, wondering exactly where to obtain a butterfly print, monogrammed cashmere-wool blend sweater.

* * *

**morning run**

Sometimes their schedules line up and they nod to each other silently as they sit at the entrance of their apartment and tie their shoelaces. They run quietly through the streets of just-light Tokyo and when they get back, Rei prepares a breakfast with the perfect amount of protein for recovery. Then, just like that, their schedules are out of sync again and they could each be living alone except for a stray glass or the sound of a running shower.


	2. Chapter 2

It starts with Nagisa. He shows up to their housewarming party with a bonsai and unceremoniously dumps it into Rin's hands. Rin eyes it skeptically. "What are we supposed to do with this?"

"Well, I wanted to get you guys a pet, but Mako-chan said it probably wouldn't work out since you're both so busy all the time, so I got you something that's less maintenance. The shopkeeper said this one is supposed to bring good health and be calming," Nagisa grins widely. "And we all know both of you could use some calming."

Rin sets the plant on a windowsill. "Thanks, I guess."

"Oh! Before I forget--" Nagisa pulls a small pamphlet out of his pocket. "Here, Rei-chan, I got care instructions from the shopkeeper. I knew you would want to read about it."

Rei nods and thanks Nagisa more graciously than Rin, who takes one more glance at the tiny tree and almost instantly forgets about it after.

In the morning, Rei comes out of his room red eyed and yawning.

"What happened to you?" Rin asks.

"I stayed up late researching how to care for the bonsai Nagisa got us." Rei folds his arms and frowns. "I don't think that shopkeeper was very knowledgeable. He was right about the attributes, but the shape the tree is in is all wrong. It doesn't do anything for the tree and besides, it's completely not beautiful this way. It'll take me months to re-train it..."

Rin blinks at his roommate and tunes him out. This was too much to deal with before coffee.

* * *

Six months later, Rin feels like he's been engulfed in a forest of miniature trees. Rei has one on every available window, wherever sunlight comes in. He's cleared a shelf of fitness and training books for horticultural books. A cabinet in their kitchen is dedicated to Rei's tools, extra dishes, wire, plant food. It's not that Rei isn't meticulously clean, neat, and unobtrusive in his new interest--after Nitori, Rin knows how to deal with a mess anyway--it's just nerve wracking living with all these tiny trees. Rin casually let the blinds drop once and immediately whipped back around to catch them before the weight and momentum crushed a pine Rei had "rescued" and was in the process of re-training into a new shape. Rei went to stay with his family in Iwatobi for a weekend and left Rin with care instructions ten pages long.

Rin rubs a hand over his face. Calming. Nagisa said it was supposed to be calming. Sometimes Rin wishes he'd gotten them a pet instead.

But other times, Rin comes home at night and sees Rei sitting by the window with one of his trees. He carefully consults a book before trimming off a branch or wrapping a wire around another. Or maybe Rei doesn't have anything with him at all. He just sits, admiring his work. He spots Rin and presents the plant. "The new shape is settling in. Beautiful, isn't it?"

"You're the expert. But yeah, it is looking better," Rin concedes. At least one of them is getting something out of it.

 


End file.
